ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South African education is facing a big dilemma. Teachers, curriculators and
students are confronted with the issue of multiculturalism because of the
establishment of one education department. Equality in education has to oe
offered to all citizens and implemented by all teachers.
In moving from a monocultural to a multicultural approach, all teaching spheres
would necessarily be affected. Re-evaluation, change and an improvementclre
required and these reconstructive measures be geared towards breaking down
isolation, fragmentation and mistrust within the diverse South African society.
Through a literature study, some perspectives on the problematic nature of the
current teaching program will be addressed. Various perspectives on
multiculturalism serves as a framework for argumentation about the viability of
such an approach. The contribution of the school subject, Physical Education,
towards harmony and solidarity, will be established. The focus will be on one of
the dance components, Folk Dancing, and in what way it can assist the process of
socialization for the creation of a sense of national unity.
The orientation to this study will be done in chapter one. In chapter two the
current problematic conditions within education serve as a background for the
total dilemma in which the South African teaching profession are outlined. The
different problems surrounding the school sUbject, Physical Education, are
discussed, which were a direct result of the fragmentation of the previous
education system. The needs of the multicultural community are not met entirely
in the current Physical Education syllabi.
In chapter three the different perspectives on multicultural education are given and
the experiences that countries like Australia, Britain, the United States of America
and Namibia had with the implementation of multicultural education to serve their
multicultural societies.
The school needs to serve the community. That is why the process of planning
the total educational practice needs to be reviewed as to the relevancy of the
school curriculum in order to serve the needs of the community.
In chapter four the place of Physical Education in the school curriculum is
established and the role that Folk Dancing has to play in order to serve as means
to foster social harmony, respect and tolerance.
In chapter five a cultural composition needs to be done in order to establish what
the multicultural community in South Africa consists of, what the different majority
cultural groups are and what research already has been attempted in the
documentation of the different South African cultural folkdances. The need is then
to develop a program which will cover the twelve years of schooling in order to,
serve as an interim program to create a bettfJr understanding between the differ']nt
cultural groups of the country.
In the final chapter conclusions and recommendations will be put forward to
enable future study.